April 2012

March 2012

Post

Moving into the new office, we decided to build Jack a new dev machine. Jack helps with coding the site, but also loves to play games - "It's compiling!" he says... So this build is a mix of productivity for software development and gaming. We received the new NZXT S340 Razer Edition case, so given Jack's affinity for Razer we decided to use it for his work system.

Comments
Sorted by:

This is a sexy build! I'm liking how pcpartpicker is working hard to produce some quality content for PC enthusiasts and people looking to get started.

This video in particular is a great example to show people starting out that they CAN indeed create an amazing build themselves and that its not an impossible task! PcPartPicker just keeps getting better! :)

Two questions about the fan controller shown in the video.
1) Price? I didn't see the fan controller on the part list.
2) Why not use the 2 out of 3 case fan headers on the motherboard for the out take fans and the 2 cpu fan headers for the two intake / radiator fans?

The NZXT GRID+ V2 runs about $30. NZXT kindly provided it for us to use in this build. I've been playing around with it using the CAM software and have been pretty happy with how well it works. It was incredibly simple to get basic or even custom fan profiles set to keep the rig quiet when possible so it can be admired with minimal noise that might otherwise break the trance induced by staring into the lovely green pools of light.

That said, yes -- you could get by without it if you really wanted to.

So far it seems stable, but I'll try to report back after I give it a more in-depth run through and spent more time using it. For the most part, I've only done some basic fan setup and left it up on the second screen to monitor temps/fan RPMs.

I had last played with CAM when during it's beta and early 1.0 release. It definitely appears to have some nice improvements since those early days. I'm also interested in playing with the app remote control and notification features when I get a chance.

I have the v2 . It was working just fine ....until I put in an x61. I have all the fans running off the v2 and now randomly it will turn off and turn on the v2 and ramp the fans up and down till I restart the computer. Hopefully the controller just went bad and a quick replacement will fix it.

Seems a bit weird to have an i5 in a (almost) 3000 USD build...but is is Skylake...i would have got an i7 and gone cheeper with other things. Also might have skipped the cheeper monitor and got a better GPU.

I hear ya, but the i7 just wasn't something I considered necessary for this system given the extra cost. The i5/GTX 970 combo is more than sufficient for development and the occasional round of Rocket League or BF4.

The primary monitor is definitely a big expense, but there's nothing like all that extra screen real estate when coding. Comparing this with two 1440p monitors (with bezels to stare at as you switch between them) doesn't push the budget all that far for the improvement.

As for the "cheaper" monitor, note that it is actually a touch screen I use to help with mobile development. I picked the same screen up a couple years ago for use on my dev system at home. It turned out to be pretty helpful, so I requested another for my office setup. It's one of the few I have found that actually has glass to the edges, making it feel more like a large tablet than a monitor.

You probably could of got a EVGA G2 either 750w or 850w PSU for that prices also all the cables are sleeved on the G2 series, and it would have been ideal if you have plans to SLI the 970 in the future. I believe the G2 series also made by SeaSonic as well.

Also I was browsing through fans earlier today and saw these clear led fans from NZXT. I am not not sure how they would look compared to the ones you chose, but they show to have much more CFM on both their 120mm and 140mm fans in comparison to those Thermaltake fans.

Overall I really thought it was a clean build. I just wish we could have a variety of colors to choose from with motherboards and parts in general, rather than ones they gives that are either black & red or white & black without having to mod them ourselves and more importantly voiding our warranty for these parts.

It's definitely a different visual effect and I really liked the "ring" lighting. I think the air flow should be fine, though I was more focused on noise level since I really wanted the system to be pretty quiet since it sits next to me on the desk.

Color schemes are always fun. I went back and forth on the motherboard a lot for that very reason, but I finally went with the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming board despite it's red color scheme since it had the features I wanted and its (quite nice) LED effects can easily be disabled in the UEFI. The BitFenix magnetic LED strip also helps by casting everything in its soft green glow. The one remaining red LED you can still see (a power indicator) will probably get covered with a small plastic cap before I'm completely happy.

As theorized by piemancoder & Spycrab, the color scheme was a big part. I mean, did you look at that card? So pretty.

It's also got a good reputation for noise level. While the 390 would fit in line with the budget/performance I was targeting here, I was a bit worried on heat and fan noise for my office rig. When Ryan pointed me towards the MSI 100 million edition, it was pretty much game over.

I actually spec'ed this build to the normal S340 for compatibility then swapped it out once the Razer edition was available. The differences for the Razer version are mostly cosmetic: tinted window, green USB ports, Razer logos, and underglow.

Is there a reason in you initially choosing to go with the Dark Rock PRO 3 over the NZXT Kraken x61? I'm building a rig very similar to this and I was debating on the the Dark Rock 3 (Non-Pro) or the NZXT Kraken x61.

The original intent was simply to use an air cooler and I liked the Dark Rock 3 for it's noise profile and looks (imagine those Riing fans on that puppy). Unfortunately, we had trouble finding it in stock from US retailers at the time, so we opted to use the Kraken since we had it on hand. It doesn't hurt that the Kraken's lit CPU block made the result look even better... (subjective bias noted). :)